At the end of August I visited our hospital in Oaxaca, Mexico. The purpose of my trip was to meet the new Executive Director and the board of directors; interview some of the staff, especially the social worker, and review the money that we sent to the hospital to pay for the medical attention that is given to the poorest of the poor. I also took advantage of my trip to visit the other programs we support that fulfill the mission statement of TASH, Inc.

Puente, the nutritional program.

CANICA, the school for street kids whose parents are street vendors.

Cecilia Parish, whose small chapel we helped to enlarge because of the large number of people who have migrated to the area in the hope of a better life. The pastor is a great priest who does much to help the poor.

Si Kanda, a new group we are helping that works with the people who live at the city dump and are facing serious health problems.

Dr. Charley Gates, one of the board members here in the states went with me. We were joined by Pete Noll, who is on our board, and is the Executive Director of Puente in Oaxaca, a non-profit that we support that works with farmers and their families concerning issues related to malnutrition and the use of amaranth. I recently introduced Pete to the readers of my newsletter.

As you might imagine, most of my time there was spent either in meetings or visiting some of the poor that we help. All of the meetings went well and we were able to accomplish the goals that we had set for the visit.

Eight days after our return, the State of Oaxaca was hit with an 8.2 earthquake, the worst in 100 years. The hospital received some minor damage, but the coast and mountains south of the hospital experienced tremendous damage and loss of life. The hospital is collecting funds and supplies to help those who lost everything. A mission trip with doctors and nurses will go and offer assistance.

Oaxaca is a very earthquake prone area. Buildings may only be two stories high. I credit our architect, who gave freely of his service, for designing the hospital to be as strong as possible.

Given the earthquake, your recent generous gifts have been a special blessing, thank you. Please continue to pray for the people of Oaxaca.

Sooner or later a child realizes that life is tough. Some parents prepare their children for this realization by telling them this fact early in life; and then saying no to one of their requests just so they can learn to handle a “No!”. More than ever this important lesson is becoming difficult to teach our children because instant gratification is the theme of most commercials. It takes great strength for a parent to continue to say “No” when a child is whining or making a scene in public. A parent’s self-esteem is tested when a teenager tells a parent that he hates him or her because they won’t cave into his irrational and dangerous request. It takes great humility on the part of parents to stand with a child in front of a police officer or a judge and find out that their child is a bully, a thief, or a drug addict, and to tell the child that he or she must accept responsibility for their actions. Every hour in the United States 13 people die from drug or alcohol addiction. Without self-discipline a person’s life can quickly become a nightmare.

“Nothing in life that is good and worthwhile comes without effort. We are born, all of us with a nature that is drawn to the easy rather than the hard. Surely you’ve noticed that no child ever has to be taught to be naughty; we’re all born knowing how. It’s easy for us. What’s hard is learning to be good. Knowing this about oneself and others softens the heart and builds iron into the will, keeps us going when all around us is crumbling, when friends forsake, when the heart breaks, and courage and confidence shatter. Knowing that such experiences are part of the deal gives us opportunities to choose to do hard things. Constant challenges make our journey exhilarating, wonderfully fulfilling, never, never boring. As the Arabs put it, “All sunshine makes a desert.” And here’s a small secret that most sad and lonely people never learn: Deep down inside we are all asking the same question. No matter who we are life is hard, and we all ask why it should be so.

But there is comfort in knowing we are not alone. So maybe your child or the person sitting over there needs to hear from you right this minute that sometimes you question, too, but that the One who knows us best and loves us most promises that for those who choose the hard way, the dawn gives way to morning splendor while the evil grope and stumble in the dark. Easy is its own reward. Hard is much, much finer.”

(Author Unknown)

I have a sign in my room that says:

“NO JESUS, NO PEACE.”

“KNOW JESUS, KNOW PEACE.”

When Jesus told us that He would give us a peace the world cannot give, He didn’t mean that our life would be easy. Often the people who are closest to Jesus have far more problems that the people who are not close to Jesus.

St. Paul gives us an insight into the kind of peace that Jesus gives. He writes: “Then the peace of Christ which surpasses all understanding will stand guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

(Philippians 4:7)

As we grow in faith, we will also grow in the peace of Christ. Once this happens then we can be certain that nothing will separate us from the love of Christ.

God bless you and remember: TO LOVE ANOTHER PERSON IS TO SEE THE FACE OF GOD.

http://fatherscott.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/fatherscott-logo.jpg00Father Scotthttp://fatherscott.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/fatherscott-logo.jpgFather Scott2017-06-26 19:03:222017-08-22 22:23:59WHY IS LIFE SO TOUGH?

I am not one to use the word “miracle” lightly, but I want to tell you about what happened on the morning of April 29th that seemed like a miracle.

For the ninth year in a row, we held a run/walk to support the Anna Seethaler Hospital in Oaxaca, Mexico. It is called the Ole 5K. It is the biggest fundraiser for the hospital and the other ministries to the poor connected with the hospital.

Jokingly, people tell me every year that I am in charge of the weather. They tell me that I have a direct line to the “Big Guy”. Well, at 6am on that Saturday morning the weather was not good. It was raining outside my room. The TV weather forecasters were not optimistic. The rain continued off and on for the next three hours. The race officially starts at 10am. There were over four hundred people registered for the event. Besides the race, we have music, a Mexican buffet, baskets for raffles, as well as hand carved, painted crosses from Oaxaca. We had one big shelter and a smaller one to achieve all we had to accomplish.

Usually the people start arriving around 8am. However, with the rain, they arrived later than usual. At 9am, people started to arrive in large numbers. It was 9am when the rain stopped. From 9am until noon, there was no rain. The sun even came out for a few minutes. We were able to accomplish all that we needed to do rain free.

By noon, the people were gone, and the clean-up was done. As the last of us were going to our cars, it began to rain. As we were driving away, it began to thunder, and lightning filled the skies. During the dry spell, people came up to me and congratulated me for stopping the rain because of my connection with the “Big Guy”.

All joking aside, I can’t take any credit for the dry spell. I know many people were praying for the success of the Ole 5K. In my March/April newsletter I had asked people to help with the race in whatever way they could. I had asked especially for prayers, and I want to thank all those who prayed. I also want to thank anyone who helped make the Ole 5K a big success. The money raised will help many poor and sick people.

Did we get a miracle on April 29th between 9am and Noon? I will let you decide. I believe we did because this year is the 100th Anniversary of the appearance of Our Blessed Mother to three children in Fatima, Portugal. The children were interrogated many times by hostile officials. Finally, Mary told the children that there would be a miracle on a certain day to prove that the children were not lying. When people heard what Mary promised they came in large numbers to witness it. That day it was raining very hard and the people were soaked. After speaking with the children, our Blessed Mother caused the sun to rapidly rotate and begin to fall from the skies. The people were hysterical. All of a sudden the sun returned to the heavens, and the people, whose clothes had been soaked through and through, found their clothes completely dry. Truly a miracle!

I want to sincerely thank everyone who supported my ministry recently either through sponsorship of the Ole 5K, attending it, or making donations through the newsletter.

We have just celebrated Easter. This year when I preached, I called Easter: “All In Sunday.” Allow me to explain. I was about seven-years-old when my family got our first TV. There were not a lot of programs on then. My two brothers and I loved the Cowboy Shows. Gene Audrey, Roy Rogers, Hop-a-long Cassidy were our heroes to name a few. Often during one of the shows, there was a scene in a Western Saloon where a poker game was taking place. The game would be very tense because the cowboys were playing for high stakes. Usually there was a moment when one of the players would push all his chips into the middle of the table and say: “I’m all in!” It was a very dramatic moment.

When my brothers and I learned to play poker, our father bought us poker chips for Christmas one year. We felt like we were real cowboys. When we played, one of us would always be looking for the chance to say: “I’m all in.” When it happened the other two had to figure out if he was bluffing or not.

Easter Sunday is really “All in Sunday“. We either believe that Jesus rose from the dead, or we don’t. If we do believe, we have to be all in when it comes to living our belief. Being all in must affect every decision we make. St. Paul said that if Jesus did not rise from the dead then we are the most pitiable of people because we were lied to. Consider the following:

Why have your child baptized if Jesus did not rise?

Why get confirmed if Jesus did not rise?

Why go to religious education classes or youth group if Jesus did not rise?

Why get married in the church if Jesus did not rise?

Why take religious vows if Jesus did not rise?

Why become a priest if Jesus did not rise?

Why spread the Good News if Jesus did not rise?

Why put your life on the line for other people if Jesus did not rise?

We either believe or we are faking it. It is either all in or you are bluffing. Just like a poker game, Jesus will call our bluff when we say we are all in.

The Easter Season lasts 50 days.

Take every opportunity to fortify your all in and you will be blessed.

Happy All In Season, and remember: TO LOVE ANOTHER PERSON IS TO SEE THE FACE OF GOD.

For forty-seven years of priesthood I have been preaching during Lent. This Lent I have a full schedule of preaching. I have found when preaching, people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. I believe that this is true in our relationship with God. To appreciate all of the readings of Lent about following God’s laws and commandments, and to want to follow them, we need to know how much God cares for us. Of course, Good Friday gives us the most powerful sign of God’s love for us as we witness Jesus laying down His life for us.

You may have read or heard of the beautiful poem: “Footprints in the Sand.” It describes God and a person walking along the seashore. All of the person’s life flashes before him. He notices that during the most difficult moments of his life there is only one set of footprints.The person says to God, “How could you leave me during the most difficult moments of my life.” God tells the person that He would never leave him. He says: “When you only see one set of footprints, it was then that I was carrying you.”

Many people have received great comfort from this poem. We all want to believe that God will never leave us or forsake us. When we do believe this, then we should want to respond to such love. Lent challenges us to return to God with all our hearts. We hear time and again in the readings: “These people worship me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” Our response to God’s love must involve concrete action.

Many years after reading the poem, “Footprints in the Sand,” I came across another version that I think you might enjoy. It describes the efforts we must make to become better people.

For most people, the emphasis of Lent is about giving up. They are encouraged to give up something they like. People are told that they must fast and abstain. The Church urges them to give up a pattern of sin in their lives by making a good confession and a firm purpose of amendment.

Although all of these are a part of what Lent means, I think the real meaning of Lent is not about giving up, but about giving in. Giving into our God who says: “Come back to me with all your heart.” There are many ways to describe this giving in. For example: “To let go and let God.” Then there is the reflection of St. Augustine who wrote: “We were made for God and our hearts are restless until we rest in Him.” St. Paul wrote: “May you come to know the height and depth, the breadth and the length until knowing the love of Christ, which is beyond all understanding, you are filled with the utter fullness of God.” Finally, Jesus said: “Come to me all you who are weary and heavy burdened and I will give you rest.”

I would suggest that giving in is much more difficult than giving up. It involves a great risk because we are asked to surrender ourselves to God. To give up control of my life is never easy. After all self-preservation is the strongest human instinct.

There are three things God does during Lent. He bugs us. He tugs us. He hugs us. God bugs us during Lent so that we don’t settle for cheap substitutes, or false gods. He bugs us through our conscience, through our prayer, through scripture and definitely through a good confession. He bugs us not to listen to the lies that the devil throws at us. He wants us to think that he is more powerful than God. He lies when he says that we are too weak to overcome temptations. When Jesus was tempted He told the devil to go away, and we must do the same.

God tugs us when we become complacent. He has us on a short lease. And as long as we don’t break the connection between us and God, He is able to pull us back to His heart, pull us back to sanity; pull us back to the realization that without God in our lives, we would make a mess out of our lives.

Finally, God hugs us. Sometimes the hug is given through a loved one or friend, especially in moments of discouragement or pain. Other times God gently hugs us when we are alone in prayer or in front of the Blessed Sacrament when there is adoration.

L.E.N.T. When I preach during Lent, I tell the congregation that Lent means: Let’s Eliminate Negative Thinking. It is not meant to be a time when we beat ourselves up. It is meant to be a time of rebirth, a time to come to our senses and realize that our lives would have no meaning, if Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead. So prepare yourselves for the great feast of Easter, when death, darkness and evil have no hold on us because our Savior has conquered them.

Have a great Lent and remember: TO LOVE ANOTHER PERSON IS TO SEE THE FACE OF GOD.

I begin this blog by quoting something that St. Paul wrote in his letter to the Philippians: “Fill your minds with everything that is true, everything that is good, noble and holy.” He also wrote in Philippians: “Have that mind in you that was in Christ Jesus.” Our minds have great power over us. One of the ways of becoming a friend of Jesus is to control our thinking. I came across a list of principles of positive thinking that I would like to share with you.

Our thoughts have power over our feelings and attitudes.

You can change yourself by changing your thoughts.

Positive thinkers use faith to gain control of their problems.

Fear and worry are conquered by practical, spiritual methods. Meditation and prayer increase vitality and peace of mind.

A positive mind leads to improved health and well-being.

Positive thinkers overcome mistakes, forgiving themselves and others.

The practice of positive imaging instills the courage and confidence to achieve your goals.

Enthusiasm leads to action.

Positive attitudes create more enduring and fulfilling relationships.

Positive thinking is achievable by all people.

No matter what our age, positive thinking is an asset that will serve us well. Parents need to encourage their children to do positive thinking and imagining, especially children who manifest fears about going to school, making friends, playing sports, and life in general.

Young adults who are hyper-sensitive about their bodies, the way they laugh, their giftedness, need to do positive thinking as they begin to date and seek a future spouse.

Older people need to do positive thinking as they face the changes that come with aging. As I often say in my preaching: “You don’t stop laughing because you have grown old, you have grown old because you stopped laughing.”

All of us have to wake up each morning and immediately say: “God, with you on my side, I can handle whatever today brings.” The healthiest people I know live in an air tight compartment called today. To spend time agonizing over the past or fretting about the future robs us of the peace and joy that each day can bring. True, each day brings challenges, but they won’t overwhelm a person who does positive thinking. When life serves up a particular challenge, we can say to life: “Is this the best you got? Well, bring it on! Jesus, my Guardian Angel and I will deal with it, learn from it and overcome it.”

There is one more principle of positive thinking that I would add: TO LOVE ANOTHER PERSON IS TO SEE THE FACE OF GOD.

Christians, in defense of their faith and their country, find themselves battling the forces of evil with one arm tied behind their back. What I mean is that our faith does not allow us to use the same tactics that our opponents use. Here is a list of the things that Jesus would never want us to do, but our opponents have no qualms doing.

Spread lies.

Fabricate stories.

Ruin reputations.

Start untrue rumors.

Stir up people’s emotions with half-truths.

Encourage people to riot and destroy property.

Stop freedom of speech on college campuses.

Ridicule a person’s values.

Threaten a person’s life and family.

Take away freedom of religion.

Although a Christian might be tempted to do one of the above in the heat of the battle, one may not because no victory should ever be achieved that is not according to the Will of God.

It would be very easy for a Christian to become discouraged having to fight evil with one arm tied behind the back. However, there are many examples from the Bible where God’s people were greatly outnumbered and yet achieved a victory. Here is one example from the Book of Judges.

“The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.”

“But sir,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, `Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.”

The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

“But Lord,” Gideon asked, “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”

The LORD answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together.” Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised–look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.” And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew–a bowlful of water.

Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece. This time, make the fleece dry and the ground covered with dew.” That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.

Early in the morning, Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) and all his men camped at the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh. The LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her, announce now to the people, `Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’ “So, twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained. But the LORD said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will sift them for you there. If I say, `This one shall go with you,’ he shall go; but if I say, `This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.”

So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the LORD told him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues like a dog from those who kneel down to drink.” Three hundred men lapped with their hands to their mouths. All the rest got down on their knees to drink. The LORD said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the other men go, each to his own place.” So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites to their tents but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others.”

Trusting in the Lord, Gideon’s small force defeated a much larger army.

There is an important lesson for all Christians in this story of Gideon. If we do not learn this lesson we will live in constant anxiety and begin to doubt God’s love and protection. God, the Father, wants us to trust that He will never abandon us even when we are faced with overwhelming odds. He will guide us, strengthen us, and fight on our side against the powers of darkness. Jesus told us that the gates of hell will not prevail against us. He said that we should take heart because He has overcome the world. God will never allow us to think that any victory we might achieve was done by our own efforts. He will test our faith and stretch us, not to hurt us or scare us but to make us dependent on His power and His protection.

So although we may be fighting against the forces of evil with one arm tied behind our backs, with God on our right side, we have more than an arm. We have a champion. Psalm 46 reminds us: “Be still and know that I am God.”

May I also remind you that TO LOVE ANOTHER PERSON IS TO SEE THE FACE OF GOD!

Perhaps you have heard the phrase: “The elephant on the room”. It refers to an issue that people don’t want to deal with, but if they don’t, they will never reach the right conclusion or have peace in their lives. “The God problem” is the modern day “elephant in the room” for our country and much of Western Europe.

Many of the intellectuals at our universities, controllers of our media, movie stars and music idols do not believe there is a God. This is demonstrated by their promoting atheistic evolution, uncontrolled pleasure seeking, multiple sexual partners, denying any sexual identity that is determined at birth, and promoting these causes by calling those who oppose them bigots; and by trying to impose their agenda by using the federal courts.

Those who believe there is a God, especially Christians, find themselves more and more on the defense. Words like bigot and phobic are used so that Christians will cower and not oppose the militant atheists in the public arena of school board meetings, local or national legislative hearings, and even family gatherings.

Allow me to give a personal example. Twice in the second part of 2016 I was reported to the bishop of my diocese for asking people, during a talk I gave and a Mass I celebrated, to sing the song God Bless America. They wrote that I was promoting my political agenda in asking people to sing the song. I had no political agenda, I just wanted the people to join me in praying for our country by using the song. If you read the words of this song you will not find anything that comes near to being a political statement. It is simply a request for God to bless our country.

Perhaps their problem was due to the fact that the word God was used. Is that a stretch on my part? Have you noticed how many people now say to someone who has sneezed “bless you”? Fewer people are responding to a sneeze by saying “God Bless You!” Why are they afraid to use the word God? This is just one example of how God is being driven from our day to day lives.

All of us must do our part to remind our country that we are “One Nation under God”. We will be called many things including religious fanatics. We will need great courage and make great sacrifices to save our world from slipping back into the “Dark Ages”, where the culture of death prevailed and human life had no value. Fortunately, history tells us that the Dark Ages were brought into the light of Christ by the preaching of the Gospel. Though the preachers suffered a great deal for their efforts, their message touched the hearts and showed the people that the emptiness they felt could only be filled by God.

I will be writing more about this issue in coming weeks. In the meantime remember: “TO LOVE ANOTHER PERSON IS TO SEE THE FACE OF GOD”